This invention is directed to systems and methods for recording programs on a network recording device when a user's local equipment lacks sufficient resources to do so.
Recording devices, such as digital video recording (DVR) devices, are well known in the art. Some DVR systems may include multiple tuners for simultaneously recording multiple programs. Such systems, however, can only simultaneously record as many programs as they have tuners available, because each tuner only records one program at a time. If a user's DVR system has two tuners and the user would like to record, for example, three NCAA tournament college basketball games that are being played at the same time, the user would be forced to choose two of the games for recording and not record the third game.
Available storage space is also a constraint on a DVR's ability to record programs. When sufficient space is unavailable for a recording, the user must either cancel the recording or delete a recording from the DVR. Additionally, bandwidth limitations may be a constraint on simultaneously recording multiple programs. For example, the aggregate bandwidth required of the hard disk in a DVR may limit the ability of a DVR device to record more than a certain number of programs simultaneously.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide digital recording systems and methods for recording more programs than the system has resources to record.